Beer: Reviews & Ratings

375ml green bottle, glad to have been able to grab a single, given the dear going rates for a sixer of Aussie stuff around here. Tasmania, wow, so literally far away - thank you, Pluto and your Goodbye Girl.

This beer pours a hazy, pale golden straw colour, with two fingers of off-white silky, whipped cream head, which settles evenly, leaving a decent pock-marked wall of painted lace around the glass.

It smells of mild grainy pale malt, a bit of plastic phenols, and grassy, rather Heineken-esque (quelle surprise!) skunky hops. The taste is semi-sweet pale and faint caramel malt, stale cornbread, a hard water stoniness, and musky floral, weedy, and now fleetingly skanky hops.

The carbonation is moderate, and maybe a bit airy, the body medium-light in weight, and somewhat smooth, a certain cloying nature growing as it warms. It finishes off-dry, retaining some of the bready malt, some more of the corniness, and a thankfully (I guess) waning bitter grassy hoppiness.

If this is indeed an AAL, then a bit of congratulations are in order - this does well to surpass more or less anything else I've had the misfortune of trying from this woebegone style. Sure, there's that green bottle derived, vaguely skanky odor, but it dissipates soon enough, leaving a decent (mostly) malt-forward lager, with an earthy, vegetal dryness. I can't help but see this as a silver lining, given how far this bottle has come to be in front of me - one thinks that a fresh one would be even more roundly agreeable. (1,510 characters)

A: pours a very pale straw hue, not 100% clear; the thick, white pillowy foam lasts pretty well, on top of rather lively carbonation full of large bubbles.S: a lively dusty note decorates the sharply sweet lemony body, backed by a light flow of grassy hoppiness, a pretty dense grainy lager maltiness. The smell almost reminds me of a dry German Pilsener, if it is not compromised by the richly sweet edge.T: really bland... the neutrally flavoured maltiness comes with a lightly sour touch of lemons and dried grass, while the already faint flavour of malts gradually dissipates and yields to a thin-bodied lemon-zesty sour-bitterness and a chewy but semi-chemical finish.M&D: spritzy and "loose" on the mouthfeel and very thin-bodied, while the flavour is so light that in the end only a watery taste of grainy liquid and rough dry-ness of a lager remain. Not as horrible as Bud, but really it has nothing much to enjoy, either. (984 characters)

I like the label, but I've always had a soft spot for thylacines. This Tasmanian lager pours a clear honey-yellow with golden edges and a clingy, tight soft-white head. Smells of ripe, hops (almost pungeant, sea-air, Saaz-ish, but not quite), over a honey-soaked bed of fruity malt. Pungeant, striking hop flavor up front. Resinous and herbal. Light Euro-hop skunk, but not too bad. Solid malt backbone comes out in the finish. LIghtly buttered bread with a hint of fruit. Not a bad lager, but needs a little work. Light-bodied with adequate carbonation. I've had much worse Aussie beers. (588 characters)

Yet another foray into overpriced Australian imported beer available here in Alberta, which has tended to end in tears in the past.

I like the bottle for this stuff, nice sturdy ergonomically designed green glass. I must admit ignorance as to the exact animal and species that is portrayed in the 1800's styled label, which also makes another cameo embossed on the bottle (jarmby1711 pointed out later that it's an extinct Tasmanian Tiger), opposing three curved embossed lines around the neck which I take to be the claw marks of this beast. Enough marketing assumptions though, lets get to the beer. Best before date says I'm still a few months in the clear.

It pours out a clear light golden colour, with a decent tight white head for a lager, and a fair amount of retention. A considerable amount of very sticky lacing. The aroma is, oh, not very pleasant at all. Cooked veggies with an underlying mystery sweetness that truly does not pair up. With some determination I can make out the faint echo of metallic grains. Things take a turn for the worse with the flavour. Bitter metallic grains with a burst of light sweetness in the middle, but that cooked veggie presence is looms over the whole ordeal, popping out on the aftertaste for a solo appearance. The mouthfeel is light, the only real body to speak of is supplied by the fizzy carbonation, but it's difficult to concentrate on it and discern it from the awful taste. The one saving grace about this lager is that it is slighly more palatable when drank straight out of the bottle. That's what it comes down to with this beer, the bottle is the only real saving grace, and it's far from enough to make up for bad beer. (1,687 characters)

Mouth feel: lighter in body with a higher carbonation - very refreshing.

Overall: better than your average lager, but not by much. Has the same refreshing feel on a hot day, but has a touch more lemon and grass citrus than usual. A good fit on the 'slightly premium' shelf. (904 characters)

Yikes, this beer smells like a mixture of shit and skunk. I can only imagine here, that a skunk shit in my beer!

Poured from a green twist off into a tulip. The head produced is about half an inch of white. Light yellow in color, transparent, and deer god, its sitting about 3 feet away from me and all I can smell is skunk shit.

The taste also resembles poop and skunks. I cant even finish this review, this has never happend to me. This beer is terrible. Drink only before trying to capture a skunk. He might think you are a skunk too. I'm not gonna even make my dog drink this, drainpour. (593 characters)

clear golden color on pouring. with a fine thing pack of bubbles at the top of the glass. sufficient hop aroma greets the nose.
compared to the light, its got a cleaner. less bitter taste and finish. i dont mean that "good hop bitterness", i mean that "this isnt really good beer" bitterness.
overall flavor is more malt than hops. somewhat typical australian lager flavor in that it doesnt jump out at you. very subdued.
i would expect more from a premium but it isnt a bad beer.
would like to see them do more of the seasonal things with their normal release beers, but i wont hold my breath. (601 characters)

Gold colour, good white head & bubbles.
Lifted grain/flour aroma, subtle metallic notes of the hops.
Crisp Euro lager flavour (which, I believe, is a more appropriate category for this beer). Good Tassie hop flavour, hint of sulfur.
Balance is good; chewy malt up front, which "crisps" nicely, with a nice bitterness bringing it together.
This has always been my restaurant pre-dinner beer of choice. Always a good competition between it and it's main rival, Boag's. (470 characters)

I reviewed this several years ago and have tried many lagers since.I subsequently have a higher opinionThis was poured into a pint glass,clear golden and sustained head.The smell is still a little insipid however there was a pronounced sharpish almost Pils like hop character.It is none too sweet and has a distinctive clean mouthfeel.It is a better drink in a large glass and is a good drink at that (404 characters)

An Aussie friend of mine brought this back for me... so that act of beer kindness might slightly cloud my judgment of this one.

Pours a clear gold with almost no head. Aroma is a nice mix of sweet grain and a very light herbal hoppiness. Flavor is very subdued... some sweet malt and grain flavors with a light bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is light and carbonation is fizzy.

By no means a great beer, but not bad either. An easy drinking beer that would be a decent thrist quencher for a summer day. (514 characters)

I only find myself drinking Cascade Premium Lager when I end up at a CUB-only restaurant or bar. I look at it as the lesser of the evils, I suppose. Slightly grassy, macro smell. Little taste other than a bit of sweetness from what I hope is barley. It's easy drinking because there's so little character to it, and it's refreshing at least. Fairly clean aftertaste. Not great, but OK if you're in a bind. (405 characters)

What's weird... Is that I popped the cap and got that fresh smell of a bud. Like... Totally. Hopalicious. Um. Not really.

The color is too light. There's no head. It smells "crisp" (like that weird bud bitterness). It tastes "crisp" - doesn't have the adjunct lager sweetness. It's probably OK on a hot day but it doesn't do it for me right now (17c). Bleh. (358 characters)

Sampled this bottle on 9th Sept 2006. 5.2%ABV attractively packaged (for a green) bottle with label showing a pair of Tasmanian Devils. On the label, it said "best by: see label". No date to be seen! Twist off cap (discovered after using opener).

Poured a clear pale straw coloured body with a decent white foam. Smelled of grass and slight hops. Tasted okay with a bitter hoppy aftertaste. Reminded me of Greek beer except for this feature.
Mouthfeel: a little syrupy. Drinkability: not the worst, but I found that I tired of it well before finishing. (556 characters)

I really like this beer. Its miles ahead of the typical Macros aorund Australia. Its got a bit of flavour, while maintaining that typical Aussie lager character. There is a strange kind of maltiness present, and a slight grassy quality that separates it from the pack. A good acquisition if the price is right. You can easily have a session on these (349 characters)

S - A Naive friend of a friend once told me cascade was like drinking out of a grass catcher. I found it totaly amusing and still do (more so considering his favorite beer is XXXX). Thats hops my friend. Something this beer always does well to capture. Strong tassie hop aroma.

T - Great fresh flavours is the impression I always get from this brew. Balanced malt and hop flavours make this a great beer. The flavour balance is almost perfect. Where it looses points is that these flavours are very simple and a little on the watery side.

M - Moderate to high carbonisation. Good pairng with the flavours. Again the secret to this beer is its balance of elements. Maybe a little to much but thats personal.

D - Perfect, could gulp this drop down all day but it would get pretty boring after a few. Its a beer that excells at the balance of its elements but doesnt really push anything new and isnt all that flavourfull. (998 characters)

Clean, inoffensive and actually pretty refreshing; this beer made for a nice wash-down of sausages after a quick swim in ketchup for this jet-lagged dude.

Recommended? Naw, but if your father-in-law offers you a beer - you are best to accept. And like he said to me after the last time I bought him a beer, "This is a great beer because I didn't have to pay for it". (367 characters)

Poured into standard schoner glass and the head dissipated within 30 seconds. Not much in the way of aroma. Taste is rather uninteresting but hops are well integrated and well balanced. There is a light grainy flavour and I agree with the reviewer who said it was "metallic". The carbonation is highish and the mouthfeel is very sparkly and after a while a bit too much. Drinkability is Ok and is nice on a hot day after some activity. Its an OK beer but boring. Most Australians think its a premium but its a very macro quaffer. I wouldn't buy it but I'd prefer it over any other Oz macro at dinner or after activity. (618 characters)

A: Crystal clear like apple cider, lots of bubbles coming to a pure white, one finger head

S: Grassy, like old wet hay or rotting vegetables. Bubbles tickle the nose and it is served so drastically cold that I really can't smell much beyond the area around me. Does glass smell?

T: Carbonation masks and then coldness freezes, malts are chewy and heavy while flavors are as they smelled: last season compost. There is a definite metallic taste that could be from my glass but other gassy off notes and a sad corn syrup sweetness.

M: Dry, light body

O: In a landscape where American adjunct lagers still reign on high Cascade does a great job of keeping up the pace. It is great if you are looking for a beer that was blindly consumed by the post war crowd. I would say for sure it is "clean, crisp and refreshing." But then so is water. (840 characters)